I must say I'm amazed at the forum group to be so helpful and welcoming to newcomers. I'm also on a forum for saltwater fish tanks and they are very cliquish and seem to look down there noses at newcomers. Thank you guys for being such a great inclusive group!! Keep on shipping! ...Bob
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LUCZORAMA SHIPWRECK SCAVENGER HUNT GIVEAWAY. 4 Weeks of Fun • 1 Legendary Prize ((OcCre’s Fram Ship)) • Global Crew Welcome!
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Welcome Bluenose. I had sometime ago a 130 Gal. of Malawi and Tanganiyka cichlids at pH8.3, not a saltwater, but really colorful and cool behavior in tank. You are in pretty cool (and expansive) hobbies.
I'm beginning to wonder if keeping fish is a common theme for people building model ships. As a teenager warships of all ages were my favourite builds. I've also kept Rift Valley cichlids. I've almost finished building a 30 inch deep tank intended for South American discus and cardinal tetra. Maybe we just like things related to water?
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interesting
i had a 150 gallon (US measure) saltwater tank for years, gave up because it was really hard keeping everyone alive.
now i have a garden pond with goldfish, frogs and at one time 2 turtles.
i had a 150 gallon (US measure) saltwater tank for years, gave up because it was really hard keeping everyone alive.
now i have a garden pond with goldfish, frogs and at one time 2 turtles.
LOL! I worked in pulp and paper research center and developped a technological transfer of use of flottaion cell from mining to recycling industries. A lot a water there and bubbling too. I wrote with MArtial Rheaume, a saltwater specialist and consultant for the Quebec Aquarium, on the mainting of the water characteristics for Malawi LAke. I had infos from Malawi directly researcher to obtained data of the real field. It is in french and contained a lot of chemicals euqtions and a way to adapted city water to obtained good pH, carbonate and alkalinity. All receipe done with pharmaceutical or usp product, no Malawi commercial Salt or Tanganyika salt, which tends to produced more algea. It was really a cool hobby, but it is better if you can be in partneship with the master of home finance.
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Fish&Chip. I used to make up my own salt mixtures for my cichlids. I was very lucky where I used to live, in that the tap water was very soft, so I could adjust hardness easily. Where I currently live the water is much harder. I have two incidents relating to fish-keeping you may like...
1) over several evenings I heard a faint barking/grunting noise while sitting in my living room. I searched for dodgy central heating pipes, blamed the dog, left the room and searched the house: finally I checked the fish tank where the sound had seemed to come from. It was my angel fish. He was making grunts/barks at the female. A few days later there were angel fish eggs all up the chimneys for the aerators... daft fish! I couldn't protect them with netting, so they got eaten by the other fish. Never got any young angel fish, but I was pleased that they were breeding... says my water was good. After that I heard the hapless lovers courting several times. It'd be great if we just had to grunt at a potential partner to get hitched.
2) I discovered that gourami were capable of breathing air courtesy of my cat, Duke. He was a British short-hair. He was damned clever. He could open windows and taught my other cat Maisie how to open microwave ovens to loot the contents. (Cat-burglar comes to mind). Anyway, I returned home from work one night to see the feeding lids on the aquarium open and a gourami flapping around on the sofa! Duke was sitting on the sofa watching it. He'd clearly opened the aquarium, perched on top and hooked out the fish. I think he was waiting for it to die. He didn't seem to like the feel of it on his paws, though he kept tentatively patting it. I've no idea how long it survived out of water. I left at 8:15 am and got back at 5:15pm, roughly. They can last a long time, apparently.
The good news is that I put my Indian gourami back in the tank and it was fine. I also added screws to the feeding flaps and Duke never mastered a screwdriver.
1) over several evenings I heard a faint barking/grunting noise while sitting in my living room. I searched for dodgy central heating pipes, blamed the dog, left the room and searched the house: finally I checked the fish tank where the sound had seemed to come from. It was my angel fish. He was making grunts/barks at the female. A few days later there were angel fish eggs all up the chimneys for the aerators... daft fish! I couldn't protect them with netting, so they got eaten by the other fish. Never got any young angel fish, but I was pleased that they were breeding... says my water was good. After that I heard the hapless lovers courting several times. It'd be great if we just had to grunt at a potential partner to get hitched.
2) I discovered that gourami were capable of breathing air courtesy of my cat, Duke. He was a British short-hair. He was damned clever. He could open windows and taught my other cat Maisie how to open microwave ovens to loot the contents. (Cat-burglar comes to mind). Anyway, I returned home from work one night to see the feeding lids on the aquarium open and a gourami flapping around on the sofa! Duke was sitting on the sofa watching it. He'd clearly opened the aquarium, perched on top and hooked out the fish. I think he was waiting for it to die. He didn't seem to like the feel of it on his paws, though he kept tentatively patting it. I've no idea how long it survived out of water. I left at 8:15 am and got back at 5:15pm, roughly. They can last a long time, apparently.
The good news is that I put my Indian gourami back in the tank and it was fine. I also added screws to the feeding flaps and Duke never mastered a screwdriver.
Cumberland, you oberved cool things
1- the choice of fish is primordial to observe amazing behavior : territorial or related to breasting (is it good in english ???). You can put more female than male to decrease the pressure on few females specimens.
2- LOL, fish can escape by self too. Some fish are really good for that and it is why the top glass is a requirement. You had verified that cat do not love water I think... but fish ????
1- the choice of fish is primordial to observe amazing behavior : territorial or related to breasting (is it good in english ???). You can put more female than male to decrease the pressure on few females specimens.
2- LOL, fish can escape by self too. Some fish are really good for that and it is why the top glass is a requirement. You had verified that cat do not love water I think... but fish ????
1) I tried my best, as I always do, to research species, water temperature & composition. Like model making, I think there's a lot I need to learn about keeping fish. You can always learn.
2) My cat was a master... probably the most clever cat that I ever owned. That gourami didn't 'escape'. There were top glasses in the aquarium. I'd made the mistake of forgetting to close one that day. Duke couldn't slide the top glass, he just got lucky after he'd opened the feeding slots, that day... then he didn't like what he had caught, which was lucky for my Indian gourami.
2) My cat was a master... probably the most clever cat that I ever owned. That gourami didn't 'escape'. There were top glasses in the aquarium. I'd made the mistake of forgetting to close one that day. Duke couldn't slide the top glass, he just got lucky after he'd opened the feeding slots, that day... then he didn't like what he had caught, which was lucky for my Indian gourami.